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Steve Jobs' 1983 Time Capsule Recovered

The National Geographic Channel has unearthed a time capsule buried by late Apple chairman and co-founder Steve Jobs thirty years ago.

The time capsule was buried in Aspen, Colorado, in 1983, shortly after Jobs attended the International Design Conference being held in that city.

Organizers called the device the Aspen Time Tube and contributed items like Rubik's cubes and some iconic music, including a Moody Blues recording.

Steve Jobs' Own 'Lisa' Mouse Buried for Thirty Years

Jobs added his own items to the capsule, including the 'Lisa' (also known as an 'Apple') mouse he used for his presentation at the conference.

Younger readers may not recognize the name, but the Lisa / Apple mouse was one of the first commercial mice released to consumers.

The mouse was specially designed for the Apple Lisa computer, one of the first machines released by the Cupertino, California-based firm. It's also the first personal computer to offer users a graphical user interface. (Source: gizmodo.com)

Jobs worked on the Lisa design but in the early 1980s was moved to the Macintosh project. Eventually the Lisa was phased out and Apple management embraced the Mac.

Initially, the plan was to dig up the time capsule in the year 2000, but organizers forgot its precise location. Recently, they brought in researchers working with the National Geographic Channel show "Diggers" to find the device.

Time Capsule Overflowing with '80s Artifacts

Eventually they came across the 13-foot-long, 1.5-foot-diameter tube. Inside they found a plethora of 1980s artifacts that are still being catalogued.

"When the end came off, literally things just poured out," noted Diggers host Tim Saylor. "There must be literally thousands of things in there." (Source: cnet.com)

"They had the foresight to put a bunch of stuff in plastic bags," Saylor said. "I could see at least a dozen plastic bags and other trinkets and items. But I know for sure there's got to be photographs in there. People had hand-written things on the back of the photographs, so there will be some really interesting things inside."

Among the artifacts researchers expect to discover inside: a Steve Jobs speech in which the Apple visionary outlines his predictions for future technologies.

We should know more about the researchers' discoveries once the Diggers episode airs this fall.